Winter
by Xazz
Summary: Leonardo keeping Ezio inside while it's snowing outside. Because he doesn't want the assassin to break his neck on the slick rooftops. -oneshot-


Leonardo was only a bit surprised when on his way home from the market he spotted footprints in the snow leading up to his home. He didn't live on a very busy street so there were only a few things it could be. The prints though were to faint to be anything malicious though and when he neared his door he wasn't disappointed by what he saw.

"I could just open it for you," he said to Ezio who was hunched over his door with a set of lock picks. The young man straitened quickly and turned looking embarrassed to have been caught red handed.

"Ah—"

"Ah what?" Leonardo asked good naturally and Ezio hastily grabbed his picks and shoved them into one of his pouches. Leonardo pulled out a ring of keys, "What can I help you with?" he asked fitting the proper one into the key hole.

"I have something like might interest you," Ezio said and slid into the building when Leonardo beckoned him.

"Oh?" and he grinned when Ezio produced one of those fascinating Codex pages of his. "How exciting, I will get right to work," he said practically snatching it from Ezio's hands. Ezio smiled in return and followed Leonardo to his work table where he set his newly bought materials and stretched the scroll out onto it. Like the others it was written in cryptic and coded Arabic. He relished in the challenge and as he went to work he heard Ezio sit heavily on one of his spare chairs. After that the world around him seemed to vanish as he worked through the page. He knew the code, for the most part, but it was still a fantastic challenge since it seemed as though whoever wrote these pages did so without thinking and sometimes even changed the code midway through. He could only think it was because that like himself the writer had a different way of thinking. It was a thrilling thought.

A time later he was finished, having rewritten the page in Italian for easy reading, he even wrote it left to right so Ezio could read it, though that was almost more difficult than uncoding the Codex. He turned back around to find Ezio dozing and grinned. Gently he prodded the younger man awake. He blinked awake wearily. "How goes the Codex?" he croaked.

Leonardo laughed, "I'm done," he said as Ezio rubbed his eyes to wake himself.

"Great," the young man stood, "Thank you for your help Leonardo," he grinned and Leonardo offered him the decoded Codex page back to read. He read, nodding as he did so, before rolling it back up. "I need to get along now," he said apologetically. "I must speak with my uncle."

Leonardo nodded, "Yes, of course," he said though wouldn't be lying if he said he wasn't sad to see Ezio go. He saw so little of him really, which was unfortunate. "I'll see you out," he said walking beside Ezio as they went to the door.

"Leonardo?"

"Yes?"

"How long was I asleep?" he asked looking outside after opening the door.

"Why do you- Oh dear," he said biting his lower lip. It had snowed a good six more inches on top of the three already, and it was still snowing. "That isn't good."

"It is no mind, I've gone through worse," Ezio sighed, preparing himself mentally for the cold and wet.

"What? No, that is dangerous," he quickly grabbed Ezio's arm before he could leave.

"I'll be fine," Ezio said.

"You'll get sick," Leonardo said and dragged him back in, shutting the door firmly to make his point clear.

Ezio sighed, "You're making something from nothing my friend. It isn't the first time I've gone around in snow."

"Yes but your usual route is by roof. I won't let you go out and slip on the tile to fall and break your neck," Leonardo said folding his arms and standing in front of the door which Ezio looked keen on getting through. "Not on my watch."

Ezio tipped his head back and rolled his eyes, "I will be fine Leonardo. I got here in one piece didn't I?"

"That was before it snowed so much, and it is still snowing Ezio. I don't want you to get hurt. Because heavens knows you'll be coming right back here for me to patch you up anyways, so you might as well save yourself the trip."

Ezio chuckled, "Since you are so insistent," he said in an amused tone. He had that look in his eye though and Leonardo knew that as soon as he took his eyes off the younger man he'd be through a window or some other such nonsense. Leonardo frowned. "Everything all right my friend?" he asked almost misgiviously

"Of course, if you'd come with me a moment Ezio," he said pleasantly and dragged him away from the workshop's entrance. He pulled Ezio to a chair. "Wait here a moment," he said and Ezio nodded. Leonardo had only gotten to the back room when he heard movement, he turned and frowned. "Ezio!" the younger man was half way to the door. "Do I have to tie you down to keep you from going outside?" he demanded and the brunette grinned at him trying to be charming and get him off the hook.

"I was just-

"Yes you were just," Leonardo rolled his eyes. He walked over to Ezio, "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something terrible were to befall you because of the snow," he said sincerely. "Please, just stay," he insisted.

Ezio gave a little huff. "I really should be-

"You can later. Please, for me, don't go out and hurt yourself."

Ezio looked at him and sighed in defeat, "Fine. For you my friend," he finally omitted. Leonardo grinned.

"Thank you."

-fin-


End file.
